Food Is Good....UltraProcessed Crap Isn't

 So, here's the danger of reading science stuff, sometimes it makes you do stuff that is good for you.  Not always, often, it is BS but this time...it makes sense.

I read and listened to the book UltraProcessed People by Chris Van Tulleken several times and will do that a few more times.

I'd already read/listened to various other books and articles on how the ultraprocessed food messed with our bodies, brains, moods, economies, human rights, farming, soil, weather and on and on.

This one though, it brings it all together and the dude has a nice british accent of some sort so it's an easy listen.

Turns out, frankenfood is bad for you! I mean, I KNEW that but I didn't get scared straight.  I'm getting there now.  

For years I've been working on the diet.  Decades.  And the exercise.

NOW though...I have the means, the time, the motivation and group of friends and colleagues who also are a bit into it in their own ways.  Is that what you extraverts call a support system?

So, last year I avoided cheap grocery store sugary foods.   That made a major change in the diet and budget.  Good for both as it turns out.   If I really really wanted a treat, I didn't buy Reese's (this will be a complete shock to those who know me...I haven't had an industrial candy bar, even an expensive "good" one in over a year), instead, I either made it or went to a business, all turned out to be local, where someone actually MADE the thing.   Like Moscow Candy in Moscow, Idaho where I got a really good peanut butter cup for 1$ or a "Bruttle" (what Butterfingers WISH they were) that is made in Spokane for 1.50$.   They are smaller than the industrial versions, cost about the same or less and are astoundingly BETTER.  Also, there are some  road blocks to getting them.  I'm not in Moscow most days.

Occasionally, I would get a locally made cinnamon roll or piece of pie or cookie.  And occasionally I would make them.

This year, cutting back UPF, ultraprocessed food, as defined by the NOVA system.   None of it is good and it turns out all of it wrecks my health.   

FORTUNATELY I have the means in money and location and skills now to do that.  I have enough $$ to buy eggs and live close enough to people who raise chickens that go outside.  I know people who hunt (and hope to be one of them this year) and trade them informally for game meat.  I know how to butcher chickens and other small things and can them.  I live with enough outdoor space to have a garden and near lots of people who garden.  I have enough money to buy produce from local farmers.  

While it costs more upfront for the food, by avoiding the fast food and convenience foods, my total food spend for 2023 went up very little.  Pretty much on par with inflation.

Recently people at work got into similar things and I talked one into reading the above mentioned book.  Now he and I share labor on processing (not ULTRAprocessing...very different) meat and fish.  For the holidays I gave home made mustard, ketchup, and vanilla extract.  In return I got deer and elk meat, and some smoked salmon.   We are all happy with that.

Now...to buy a 2024 hunting and fishing permit.  The hope is to ACTUALLY use it this year.  Especially for fishing because that's easy and doesn't have to result in 100lbs of meat like killing big game.

Giving up on 3 local restaurants

 For real!!!

My builder is at the place (YAY!!!) and the crew likes cinnamon rolls.  OK then.  I brought them cinnamon rolls on their first day back on the job.

So.  They needed 6 rolls.  I had to go to 2 places to get a total of 6.  That is fine.  2 from Restaurant G...um...they are OK.  Dry. Frozen and thawed out.  frosting on the side in a little plastic tub.  Meh.

Restaurant Z.  Those were really good.  Not too sweet. Moist.  1 frosted, others plain (which personally I prefer.  If you are hiding the roll under a giant pile of gunk, there must be a problem).  

Today, I tested Restaurant T as they are closer to my place.  Um.   BARF!!!!!!!   They heated up the roll in a microwave which makes the bottom BLAZING hot.  the rest was still frozen.  And the frosting was off brand shortening and powdered sugar.  PUKE!  I threw it out.  I asked for a non-warmed up roll and they said they couldn't because they were frozen.  They served it in a styrofoam container which I am pretty sure had been in the microwave too.  Double barf.   Nothing like the smell of hot cheap plastic to whet the appetite.  I tried a cookie as well.  You wouldn't think you could mess up a peanut butter cookie but alas...it tasted mostly like baking soda and shortening.  Maybe margarine but I'm pretty sure it was shortening.  Also threw that out. 

I am at work today, the weekend, making up a bit of time lost to the construction and didn't remember lunch so ordered "to go" from Restaurant G.  Well, 2 out of the 3 items I ordered were in the bag.  I give up.

Which is fine.  I was going to see if I could do all of July cooking from scratch, minus 2 events that are already booked and a possible birthday dinner with a friend that is pending a date.  No "to go" meals or "I can't be bothered" unplanned outings.  Not even treats from the farmers market.   So, probably good that the restaurants are letting me down.  I won't miss them.

Certainly the value for money isn't there other than bringing the builders treats and getting them to keep showing up.

Another One Bites the Dust and the Cost of Eggs from the Coop of Misfit Chickens.

It looks like Suzanne went to cross the road...literally crossed the highway...and ended up as an ex-chicken.  She seems to have suffered a direct hit by a semi. I could see her.  I'd gotten her off the highway before and WARNED her that this would NOT go well if she kept it up.  I was talking with a neighbor up on my porch and I could see cars swerving a bit.  Dang.  Then I could see a chicken.  Double Dang.  I hoped she would not cause an accident.  She didn't.  The neighbor and I saw a semi coming, after the chicken had been across the road and back to our side, and I said, "Ugh, just hit her" or something like that.  Shortly afterwards...no more swerving.  No more glimpses of a chicken in the distance on the highway.  Oops.  Then I noticed cars driving crooked a bit further down.  The neighbor, who has a bunged up leg so I walk her back down the hill when she leaves, was ready to go.  I walked her down and sure enough.  Chicken parts all over the highway for about 20 yards.  When traffic cleared I threw the main bit off into the ditch so people would quit swerving.  There was not enough coherent material to make a positive ID.  The hen did not actually suffer.  This was over before the nerve pulses made it from the point of impact to her tiny brain.  No head was located.  My sister did recommend making an ID with dental records.  Ha!  The remaining light red hen is clearly Bonnie, clipped wings.  That means this must have been Suzanne.  The Novogen breed lays well and is calm and easy to handle, but is NOT bright.  1 lost to raccoon.  1 from last year smothered herself under a tarp.  Another from this year just wandered off.  And now this.  They don't seem to be doing well as free range hens.  Then again, I do have the misfits and off cuts.  The runners and the garden accosters.  So my sample is not representative.

The bantys seem hardy.  I did lose one to a broken leg, but in fairness she was so old she probably had osteoporosis.  The other two are still about!  And still putting out eggs. As are the other 5 remaining hens.

Here's the current chicken list, then on to egg costs:

Fabio
Clyde
Bonnie...the last light red novogen.
Pru
Pearl
Porky
Flossy
Flo
Gertrude ("Gert")...the newest youngest novogen who is bright red.  They fade as they age so you can kind of tell who is likely to still be laying.

As for the egg cost:

I get 0-7 per day.  7 was a banner day.  Usually 3-5.  Let's call it an average of 4 per day, 28 per week.  This might change with the lower hen count at the moment.  That's 2 1/3 dozen a week.  I spend 12.50$ for 40lbs of feed and 3$ for some oyster shells.  They feed seems to be lasting about 3 weeks (for 8 hens and 2 roosters) at summer rates. Might have to feed more in the winter.

That's 1$/week for oyster shells and $4.17ish for feed per week.  $5.17 input (all components of the coop are free or were bought ages ago for other reasons and the amortized investment is around 0) per week.

 5.17/2.33333333 is about $2.22 per dozen eggs.  Not bad.  Local free range eggs are going for 3$/dozen or more. Organic at the store $6/dozen.  Local free range at the store about 5$/dozen.  Farm eggs from the farm, that I would have to drive to get, $4-5/dozen.  Since these are my own and got straight from chicken to pan, or stored in the shed unwashed and unfridged, the convenience and lack of driving add to the value for me.   I am able to give away about a dozen a week so that's nice.

Seems worth it.

The feed is local, non-GMO, and the hens kicked up their laying-power when I started this vs trying to mix my own.  So I get to support a local farmer.

This is where I'm getting my feed:

http://www.lazydaeranch.com/

They drop it at my work so there is no added fuel cost or anything.

I wonder if they want their bags back?

My current feed-barn is a single metal trash can I picked up years ago at a yard sale for about 3$ and have used for a variety of things. I could use a 2nd and 3rd storage option for winter so I don't have to haul 40lb bags up the hill too often.  We'll see if that happens.

The chickens eat around the property all day so they may need more feed in winter and I will likely cull the flock down to the best layers with the most cold-hardy traits before then.  Maybe keep the big cock (heh heh) because his bulk adds to the heat in the coop. We'll see.  He's a bit of a dick with a big comb which may be bad during winter. The small cock (heh heh) with the flat comb may be more likely to survive winter.